Weather supercomputer glitch fixed

The Meteorological Agency said Tuesday it corrected a supercomputer malfunction that may have compromised the accuracy of its weather forecasts.

The agency said normal operations resumed around 9 a.m., about 12 hours after a problem developed with the supercomputer’s cooling unit, which prevented it from using up-to-date weather data.

The problem prevented the agency from providing forecast data to private weather information companies since just before 9 p.m. Monday.

The agency was forecasting heavy snow in Pacific coastal regions in western and eastern Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday as a developing low pressure system passes along the south of the archipelago. The agency said it would check whether the trouble had affected its immediate forecast.

The agency’s earthquake and tsunami observation and warning system was not affected because it relies on another computer, it said.